We welcome the cold and greet these holiday-rich days with Quakerbridge Barley Wine. An incarnation of a Half Acre favorite, Marty Stouffer’s Wild America Barley Wine, this weighty beer is a choose-your-own-adventure experience. Freshly plugged, this beer is a hop guster to bring your holiday retreat to its knees, but time allows this brew to round and settle into an ever maltier bomb of balance. Whether your mug is beside a Thanksgiving gobbler or a holiday ham, let our bottled elixir join you and your family on its collision course of celebration. So, pull a cork and belly up to home – this hulk of a holiday hazer will settle any family retreat into a warming submission hold of mirth.

(Served in a snifter)A- This beer pours a slightly dense clear garnet body with a sticky beige head of creamy that leaves spots of foam on the glass with each sip. There is a slow carbonation working its way to the surface.

S- The full green hops aroma has some woody and slightly mint hints to it.

T- The bright but dank green hops have a cream flavor to follow and a lemon tartness to the hops that grow in the finish. There is some pale malt that is slightly dry in the finish that blend into some more bright hops that linger. There is some caramel malt sweetness that grows in the background as the beer opens.

M- The medium-light mouthfeel has a creamy texture in the finish and no alcohol heat noticed.

O- This beer has a light body and big bright hops that were very fresh and a nice malt support that grew as it opened. I wouldn’t describe this as a barleywine as it doesn’t really have the luscious malt that I enjoy, but this beer was delicious whatever label you want to stamp on it. (1,007 characters)

Bright and saturated reddish amber orange. Sturdy cap of off white foam leaves behind a few irregular arcs of lacing. Retention is good, head lasts for awhile initially. Later the foam recedes to a veil that eventually parts across the surface.

Big cantaloupe and melon at first, becoming sweet, later woody and spicy like sandalwood. Alcohol is well hidden in the aroma.

Earthy and sweet, dry and bitter, alternating modes equally large in the hop & malt departments. A bit bitter and biting with the higher abv, earthy and vegetal middle, a flash of light fruity sultana sweetness at the very beginning. Hops and booze really dry it out in the bitter chalky finish, oily and resiny in the middle. Overall a good one to share while fresh to pick up on the fresh hop aromas and flavor, but will likely age nicely. (817 characters)

Overall: Super solid "Behemoth" wannabe of an American Barleywine that is about on par in quality with New Glarus' Barleywine (when fresh) from last year. This is an excellent effort from Half Acre, but I still prefer both Double Crooked Tree and Behemoth.

Recommendation: Fans of hoppy, IPA-esque barleywines should give this one a whirl.

I really need to stop drinking American barley wines between 6-12 months old. It's old enough that the hops aren't as dominant as they would have been fresh but too young to have developed the deep, rich malts that this is capable of. Still an enjoyable beer and I had no issues finishing a bomber on my own. But I can't shake the feeling that this would have been much better 4+ months ago or 6+ months from now. (1,101 characters)